Home For Christmas (Isaiah 8 & 9)

Community Group Discussion Questions

Helping one another love Jesus, His people, and His world.

Text:Isaiah 8 & 9

Sermon Title: Home for Christmas

Date:12-19-2021

Loving Jesus

1. Jesus is THE gift of Christmas. He is called: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.” Which of Jesus’ above titles brings you the most hope, encouragement, or gladness today? Which of His titles is more difficult to embrace? Explain.

Loving His People

2. God’s people are meant to be a taste of the “already, but not yet” homethat we were made for. In what way(s) has our group been a foretaste of this homeover the past year? Or in other words, in what way(s) has this group showcased the increase of the reign and peace of Jesus to you this year?

 Loving His World

3. Take a moment and imagine what it would be like if the gloom you experience was also without any of the hope Jesus and His titles give you. What must life be like for those around you who are still living in a great darkness without the light of Jesus? How does the Lord want this reality to impact your heart?  

Gospel Ethics (Ephesians 4:26-32)

Community Group Discussion Questions

Helping one another love Jesus, His people, and His world.

Text:Ephesians 4:26-32

Sermon Title: Gospel Ethics

Date:12-12-2021

Loving Jesus

1. The passage ends with Jesus bearing all of our sins on the cross, including our failures at the commands in this passage.What difference does that make to your pursuit of these commands?

Loving His People

2. The passage says that the gospel transforms us by replacing: dishonest living with honest living, destructive anger with redemptive conflict, stealing with generosity, speaking to harm with speaking to heal, and grieving the Spirit with the life in the Spirit.

a. Which one most stands out to you, and why? (Perhaps it looks most radical to the world, or is such a praiseworthy change, or is personally meaningful to you, etc.)

b. Describe the difference between a church culture where everyone feels they have to have arrived at these attitudes already and one that’s a journey of growth? What has been your experience with these two different cultures.*

 Loving His World

3. This passage says that because of the gospel, our work is to be aimed at giving (to others) and not taking (for ourselves) (v. 28). How does this value compare to the culture of your “workplace” or living situation? What sort of impact would laboring to give rather than to get have here?

*Adapted from Ephesians, The Love We Long for, by Scotty Smith